With the increased populations serviced by waste water treatment plants, the discharges from these plants, i.e., sludge, smelly gases, waste water, etc. have a negative effect on the environment. Also, the prohibitive cost of such central systems are of growing concern, both in rural and urban areas.
Various alternatives are being proposed and made available to the presently generally used water toilet and the central collecting system. Chemical toilets, oil flush toilets, vacuum assisted water toilets, while being water savers, are still extensions of the sewer systems because they eventually have to be emptied into sewers or septic tanks.
Septic tanks, aerobic or anaerobic are family sized treatment plants which may or may not clean up the discharge effluent water, and still require pumping to unload periodically with discharge into sewer systems.
The costs of publicly financed treatment facilities sewer and water in the United States can be as much as $5,000 per house served and more, depending on the remoteness of the plant, lot size, and topography.
The advantage of a public system is the absence of individual responsibility for waste disposal. But faced with the taxes and bonded indebtedness required to finance these public sewer and water systems, environmentally concerned citizens are prepared as never before to accept the challenge of controlling his own environment in a zero discharge household by recycling organic waste as plant nutrient, humus and food. Given the proper equipment the homeowner should be able to solve his own waste problems without creating a nuisance and at the same time using the nutritional potential of the processed waste to grow food.
The need for such equipment is obvious. Improper methods like burial of kitchen waste which is dug up by dogs, racoons, etc. are not involved.
Years of addiction to intensive cultivation, growing and harvesting by means of chemical fertilizers have left our rural and urban land in an urgent state of humus and nutrient deficiency.
Composting and biological toilets attempt to provide the proper equipment. The "holding tank" type equipment has a long decomposing cycle not conducive to efficient recycling, but it requires a little looking after. It does not usually require adding of carbonaceous material for composting. This equipment is usually a tank upon which you sit to use, requiring the tank to be located below the floor level. It depends on an up-draft with an insulated vent through the roof to prevent odors in the bathroom. Flies and other bugs can be a problem. If composing is done, the carbonaceous material--leaves, sawdust, to be added must be stored near the equipment, or alternatively stack odors are objectionable when composting is not done.
An alternative to the large volume holding tank type composting toilet is the electric heat coil assisted biological toilet, requiring the decomposing to occur directly beneath the seat in the bathroom. Urine is evaporated up the stack and decomposing is accelerated by the heating process. Composting presents problems in this unit because of its energy use and limited size.
Prior art consists among other things of the art of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,663,970; 3,808,609; 3,372,018; and 2,750,269, with the various art of reference therein.
Also noted as generally related to the subject matter herein are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,831,340; 3,716,371; 415,246; 3,345,152; 3,837,810; 3,853,480; 2,878,112; 3,248,175; 3,916,456; 3,136,608; 3,175,887; 3,840,907; 2,527,214; 3,499,420; 2,867,055; 4,108,625; 4,040,810; 4,032,318; 2,241,734 and 3,761,237.
Previously in toilets and human waste disposals of this type, the material was either directly supported on heated elements which caused dehydration and/or sterilization, and, therefore, prevented effective fermentation, as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,456; or only the liquid portion of the waste material is warmed and this is recirculated with the more solid elements, as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,609, thus allowing for liquid phase fermentation. In still other prior art, the method of using ball or semi-ball type valves to allow a vacuum or pressure differential to transport the fecal and liquid matter to a container are disclosed in patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,970 and the art of reference therein, and a prior art patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,567, by the inventor, who disclosed the invention shown in the numbered application. In all of these patents there is a method shown which in effect transports the organic material from a temporary repository or container to another less temporary container that is a storing and collecting repository or container wherein further operations must be separately performed on the effluent material.